Incorporated Technologies Ltd (ITL), a small Scottish multimedia designer has developed a BT workstation that boasts video conferencing and audiovisual facilities, DVD read and write capability, 3D sound, as well as more traditional internet links, all built into a cockpit-style desk space.
‘Smartspace’ is an attempt to provide all the effects of virtual reality without wearing headgear and other sensors. It can be used by plant controllers as a management point, as a kiosk demonstrating DVD videos or games, or simply as a home entertainment system. The station is secured by a choice of biometric technologies, with finger-printing at the low-end and iris scanning for more sophisticated and expensive versions.
Originally designed by UK incumbent carrier British Telecommunications Plc in its Martlesham laboratories, ITL, a firm more noted for its multimedia kiosks, has added more advanced videoconferencing facilities and made the data-streaming more sophisticated. ITL’s other products include ePoint, a multimedia kiosk currently used as a point of information which the firm is keen to turn into a point of sale device.
John Semple, product manager at Tillicoultry, Scotland-based ITL, describes Smartspace’s data representation as a window through which users can see a section of concave screen, on which a variety of types of information can be displayed. The user changes the screen shot by adjusting sensors in the chair. A remote medical consultant, for example, might have video-conferencing on one half of the screen with data sharing on the other.
Smartspace currently runs on a Windows 98 operating system and connects to a local area network. It uses a standard PIII processor, but ITL says it will probably be available on a high-end Silicon Graphics workstation. ITL expects to sell around 20 worldwide next year through its six-strong sales team, all built to order. The company has already got two machines in the pipeline and expects two more contracts soon. Prices range from 10,000 pounds to 40,000 pounds ($16,000 to $65,000).
